Trial Set in Ralph Yarl Shooting Case

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Facts

  • During a preliminary hearing Thursday, a Clay County, Mo. judge ruled that Andrew Lester, a White man, will stand trial for shooting Ralph Yarl, a Black teen who mistakenly rang the doorbell at Lester’s home.1
  • Lester, who is charged with first-degree felony assault and felony armed criminal action, entered a not-guilty plea. He's scheduled to be arraigned Sept. 20.2
  • In April, Yarl was picking up his siblings when he went to the wrong address. After he rang the doorbell, he was shot twice — once in the head and once in the right arm.3
  • During 911 calls entered as witness testimony, Lester, 84, described the 16-year-old teen as a "6-foot Black man" and said he fired without warning because he was "scared to death" Yarl would break in.3
  • Yarl testified he was waiting "longer than normal" for someone to answer the door when he saw Lester in the door with a rifle. Lester told Yarl, "Don't ever come back here again" before he began shooting.4
  • In court, Lester's neighbors recounted hearing the gunshots and telling Yarl to remain outside while they called 911. When asked by the prosecutor if they had thoughts of shooting Yarl after he banged on their door for help, they responded "no."5

Sources: 1ABC News, 2Associated Press, 3Independent, 4The Washington Post, and 5NBC.

Narratives

  • Left narrative, as provided by CNN. As an alarming number of stories and videos surface of unarmed Black men being murdered by "terrified" White people, you have to wonder what is it about Black men that seem so threatening. Going back generations, Black men have been falsely associated with criminal and social wrongdoings. These ideas are perpetuated in pop culture and echoed throughout White America — the case of Ralph Yarl is another tragic cry for deep systemic change.
  • Right narrative, as provided by The Wall Street Journal. If you're listening to the gloomy outlook peddled by woke culture warriors, you might not know that race relations in America have actually improved. Transcending race is actually championed by conservatives, but leftist identity politics regurgitate stale narratives about xenophobes, sexists, and racists leading the charge. This divisiveness is harming America's social fabric.